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MELBOURNE, Florida — President Donald Trump’s reference to “what’s happening last night in Sweden” during a Saturday rally in Florida raised questions in Sweden and around the internet about what he really meant and where he gets his information.

The President clarified his remarks Sunday, posting on Twitter that his statement “was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNewsconcerning immigrants & Sweden.” The tweet confirmed suspicions of many that President Trump’s remarks stemmed from Tucker Carlson’s show Friday night, in which the host interviewed Ami Horowitz, a filmmaker who has tried to tie Sweden’s taking in of asylum seekers to increased violent crimes in the country.

Within two hours of the President’s post, the official Twitter account of the Embassy of Sweden in the US responded: “We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies.”

President Trump’s reference to the Scandinavian nation, known for liberally accepting Syrian refugees, originally occurred during his Saturday speech.

“We’ve got to keep our country safe,” he said. “You look at what’s happening in Germany. You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what’s happening in Brussels. You look at what’s happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris.”

The comments appeared to refer to recent terror attacks in Germany and elsewhere, but no such attack has occurred in Sweden. That led some on Twitter to speculate he might have watched the Fox News report.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters earlier Sunday the President was “talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general and not referring to a specific incident.”

She reiterated that President Trump did not mean to say “last night” but was referring to the rise in crime in the country.

Meanwhile, the official Swedish embassy responded to those asking about what happened Friday night by saying: “Unclear to us what President Trump was referring to. Have asked US officials for explanation.”

Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister, also questioned the President’s statement on Twitter.

“Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking?” Bildt tweeted. “Questions abound.”

President Trump’s remark is the latest misplaced reference to a terrorist attack or incident by those in his White House. President Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway inaccurately referred to a “Bowling Green massacre” that never took place, and White House press secretary Sean Spicer referred to an attack in Atlanta, later clarifying that he meant to refer to Orlando.

9 comments

SwedishSquadleader

As a Swede I had to try find a terror attack according to Mr Trump, that occurred here in Sweden. Luckily it seem like FOX got him on a false report. Don’t give up people. Resist. I blog on the topic: https://astoamerica.wordpress.com/

Daniel W.

If you do some actual research, hes referring to the spike in sexual assault crimes in the last year in sweden. They have become #1 in all of europe in sex assault cases with the offenders being overwhelmingly from countries where refugees are fleeing. Some sweden sites have even elaborate stories saying these people are using swimming pools as a hot spot for sexual assaults.

SwedishSquadleader

As Trump was speaking in Florida I checked on a terror attack. It’s a natural response when you hear something like that. Especially as he mentioned Germany and other previous attacked countries.
Besides, we don’t have any spikes in any type of crimes. We do have statistics on sexual offenses, including all related violations. That makes our statistics a bit wider and therefore misinterpreted if talking rapes.Finally, during winter there are next to no sexual assaults outside due to harsh cold climate.

Markp1950

Scott

I had expected his comment was related to the 60 minutes crew that was physically attacked and the resulting video from that story that has been circulating the news. Still don’t get the connection to a terrorist event that the MSM keeps pushing. I love the article sentence that states “the comments appeared …” Appeared to whom? Not to me, it was always about refugee and immigration concerns. But it is helpful to the narrative to create confusion where none exists.

In what universe does anybody expect the political leadership of Sweden to tell the world that they have a self-inflicted problem … irrespective of how big of a problem that they have? Of course, investigating that would require some journalistic effort … far easier to yell fire and watch.

SwedishSquadleader

In this universe Scott our government doesn’t lie to us. We have a total transparency. Everything said and done by officials is out there for everyone to read. That way we don’t need to worry about leaks, whistle blowers or other consequences. It’s one step further in being a democracy. And I appreciate it now more than ever as we all can see what happens when one single person have the power. It could go very sour.

Scott

Fair response as my comment obviously comes from a perspective of dealing with the government here. Not everything can be as transparent as you suggest though as I expect that some matters of national security must have some level of privacy. America has a long history of politicians who are less than truthful which is how Trump ended up where he is. I still stand by my initial thoughts on his original statement and never connected it to a terror attack vs an immigrant/refugee problem. Perhaps simply a matter of perspective vs the need to find a problem where none exists. Coincidently, I was in Stockholm in January and while the skies were much like WI and gloomy, I never felt unsafe.

SwedishSquadleader

It was specific “last night”, in his speech, caused all swedes to wonder about an attack. We didn’t know he referred to a tv report. However, I hope your country will come together. The unity makes your strength. Good luck! :)